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BBC Radio 3 presents five essays about opera

31 May 2010, London, UK

Michael Chance(Photo: Gerald Place)

The BBC’s major new series, A Passion For Opera, continues on BBC Radio 3 this week with five 15-minute essays written and narrated by eminent figures from the world of opera, broadcast daily at 23:00 BST.

Opera Now readers should already be very familiar with three names on the roster: Opera Now Editor-in-Chief, Ashutosh Khandekar, and Contributing Editors, Tom Sutcliffe and Robert Thicknesse.

The series also features English countertenor, Michael Chance, and Matt Peacock, Chief Executive of the London-based community arts initiative, Streetwise Opera.

Each speaker will explore a different aspect of their experience of opera, beginning tonight with Tom Sutcliffe speaking about the paradoxically intimate quality of this spectacular multimedia art form.

Tomorrow’s broadcast by Matt Peacock’s looks at the potentially life-changing social impact of opera, while on Wednesday Robert Thicknesse will reveal why he has become disillusioned with some aspects of the opera world.

Ashutosh Khandekar’s personal account of his early experiences of opera on Thursday and Michael Chance’s ‘confessions of a long distance opera singer’ on Friday bring the week to a close.

Each of the essays will be available via the BBC’s ‘Listen Again’ facility for 7 days after broadcast.